The Union government has declared a seven-day mourning in honour of former prime minister Manmohan Singh, officials said. They said the Cabinet will meet at 11 am on Friday to pay tributes to him. Singh’s last rites will be conducted with full state honours, the officials added. Manmohan Singh, the architect of India’s economic reforms, died in Delhi on Thursday night at the age of 92. He was the prime minister during 2004-14.
Paying tributes to his predecessor Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said India mourns the loss of one of its most distinguished leaders whose wisdom and humility were always visible. In a post on X, Modi said, “His interventions in Parliament were also insightful. As our Prime Minister, he made extensive efforts to improve people’s lives.”
As the two-term Prime Minister of the UPA, he stayed at the top post from 2004 and 2014. He served as a member of the Rajya Sabha till April this year. In his political career, Singh has been a member of the Rajya Sabha since 1991, where he was Leader of the Opposition between 1998 and 2004.
Singh shot to prominence as the country’s Finance Minister in the government headed by PV Narasimha Rao during 1991-96, having brought in sweeping reforms that transformed the economy. In 1991, as India faced a severe economic crisis, but over the next few years, despite strong opposition, he carried out several structural reforms that liberalised India’s economy. Manmohan Singh was sworn in as Prime Minister on May 22 after the 2004 general elections and took the oath of office for a second term on May 22, 2009. He represented Assam for five terms in the Upper House and shifted to Rajasthan in 2019.
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